Activities & Services

Contact

English

Course Descriptions

Writing CenterA non-credit tutorial service available to any Utica College student who wishes help with particular writing problems.

ENG 100 – Writing Skills(1–2) Provides in-depth review of grammar, improvement of mechanical accuracy, emphasis on sentence writing, and construction of paragraphs. Two credits during regular semesters and one credit during summer sessions. By permission of Academic Support Services Center.

ENG 102 – Written Communication II(3) Further practice in college-level writing, focusing on research. Prerequisite: English 101 or equivalent.

ENG 103 – Introduction to the EnglishLanguage (3) An examination of the influence of language on attitude and perception, manipulative use of language, types of change within English, and writing systems. The course involves no technical linguistic concepts or theories.

LIT 205: Masterpieces of Western Literature: Through the Renaissance

(3)This class will focus on tracing the “hero’s journey” over a variety of texts representing different ancient cultures. This journey is both physical and spiritual. The class will also investigate literature focused on the home and hearth, and the relationships that develop within the circle of family, friends, and acquaintances. Readings will be taken from the Greco-Roman, Babylonian, Judeo-Christian, Egyptian, and western European cultures.

ENG 245: Major Figures in English Literature Through the 18th Century

(3)British literature from the Anglo Saxon period through the Restoration. May include Beowulf, Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, poetry, prose, and drama from 16th and 17th centuries, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and selected writings from other authors.

ENG 295: American Literature to 1865

(3)ENG 295 examines texts both for their literary merit and for their political significance as we observe how early American writers struggled with issues such as the aftermath of the U.S.’s independence from Britain, the oppressive treatment of Native Americans, and the horrors of slavery. Two topics that will be of special interest are how American literature developed as a post-colonial literature struggling to find its own voice and how women were able to claim space in the literary world despite being denied access to political power. We will pay close attention to the development of different genres and literary movements as we investigate these issues.

ENG305: Topics in British Literature — Harry Potter’s Real Parents

(3)The course will examine Harry Potter in the context of three other important British fantasy series that came before it: Tolkien's Middle Earth books, Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, and Pullman’s His Dark Materials books. We'll read 2 books from each series culminating in two Harry Potter books to show how the Potter series follows and departs from the fantasy series that came before it.

ENG 307: Beginning Creative Writing(3)The purpose of this course is to explore all three genres of creative writing—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—through selected readings and your own original writing. We will focus on how craft—not content—is used to write a strong piece, by looking at how it was done by other writers. This course is designed to give you a basic knowledge of concepts and terminology to critically analyze both your own and others’ writing. Throughout this course you will be expected to read contemporary poetry, fiction, and nonfiction closely, and analyze the craft features employed. You will be expected to write frequently in each of these genres throughout the course working towards a final portfolio at the end of the semester which will showcase your best revised work.

ENG 308: Creative Nonfiction

(3)Nonfiction workshop: this class emphasizes writing as a process, a practice, and a study. This class is generative, meaning you will be asked to produce at least two new pieces of nonfiction and you will revise one piece for an additional workshop. Not only will you produce, but you will revise in order to keep pushing yourself towards a finished product. This class is designed to make you push through revision blocks as well as generative blocks. Think of this class as training yourself in the practice of writing, reading for craft, and learning how to identify when/where/what/how to revise.

ENG 311: Modern English Grammar

(3)An extensive study of the structure of the English language using structuralist and transformational models with a short introduction to the development of the traditional school grammars. Recommended for prospective teachers.

ENG 315: Writing in the Professions

(3)In English 315, Writing in the Professions, we will study the rhetoric of business and technical communication and we will practice a variety of forms, including letters, memos, e-mails, and reports. We’ll develop the skills and strategies essential to effective communication in professional settings.

ENG 316: Principles and Practice of ESL

(3)Theory of second language acquisition; linguistics, as relevant to TESL; teaching approaches and methods, including testing, in speaking, reading, writing, communication, and culture.

ENG 335: Literature of the Tudor Period

(3)The Tudor period in English Literature (1485-1603) has had a bad rap. Showtime’s The Tudors not only rewrote history but cemented the portrayal of Henry VIII as a man who destroyed wife after wife and sent all his best friends and advisors to the block. In reality, the literature written during his lifetime and those of his children (some of it actually by the king and his family) constitutes the opening of a new era in English poetry, drama, and prose. Not only did some of the greatest writers in the English language flourish during these years, but they developed new forms of literature: the sonnet, prose fiction, the translation of the Bible into English, and, of course, in the newly established theatres comedy, tragedy, and romance. This course will introduce students to the literature of a period much like our own, one in which political, social, and religious conflicts lay behind the development of early modern literature.

LIT 347: Images of Women in Literature

(3)How are gender and sexuality being imagined, invented, and lived in different parts of the world? As a class, we will investigate how gender works in our everyday lives, while reading literature and film that questions, historicizes, or completely does away with gender completely. Works will include: Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Marjane Satrapi’s graphic-novel Persepolis, and Pedro Almodóvar's gender-bending Spanish film All About My Mother.

ENG 375: Literature of the Theatre(3)This class is designed to give a broad overview of major pieces of dramatic literature across multiple genres. While the class does deal with plays as literature, it also deals with how the plays were meant to be staged, and how a play’s structure creates an impact on an audience.

ENG 395: American Literature: 1914-45(3)The Jazz Age. The Harlem Renaissance. The Great Depression. Two World Wars. This thirty-year period of glamour and upheaval produced some of the most innovative works of American literature.

ENG 587z: American Supernatural Literature

(3)The period between the Civil War and World War I is considered the heyday of American Realism. Oddly enough, it was also the period of the ghost story’s greatest popularity, and most of the major realists wrote about the supernatural. What was the connection between realism and occult fiction? What made supernatural stories popular at this particular point in time?

* Also see courses listed under World Literature.

Note: The figure in parentheses following the title of the course indicates the credit hours per term. Courses that extend through two terms are shown as follows: (3, 3). Courses that are one term only are shown by: (3). Courses with variable credit are shown with the range of credit available, for example: (1-6).

The College reserves the right to cancel any course if registration does not justify continuance and to make changes in curricula at any time.

Careers in English

What can you do with an English degree?

"In all seriousness, you never know where an English degree will take you, but you'll always be that annoying person that does ‘well’ -- but not necessarily ‘good.’" "In all seriousness, you never know where an English degree will take you, but you'll always be that annoying person that does ‘well’ -- but not necessarily ‘good.’"